Subscribe now
Eastern Washington University Basketball

Eastern Washington climbs into tie for first place in Big Sky

Jacob Wiley had 18 points and 13 rebounds for Eastern Washington. (EWU photo)

The Eastern Washington University men’s basketball team will be playing for at least a share of the Big Sky Conference regular season championship in two days.

Eastern used runs of 11-0 and 7-0 in the second half to pull away from Southern Utah for a 91-75 victory Thursday in an important league game for EWU’s title hopes. But the even better news came from Grand Forks, North Dakota, where league-leading North Dakota was upset by Sacramento State 57-53.

As a result, the Eagles and Fighting Hawks sit atop the Big Sky standings at 13-4 apiece. Although UND has the tiebreaker advantage in the event of a tie, the championship may come down to EWU’s game at Northern Arizona on Saturday afternoon prior to North Dakota’s home game against Portland State.

“This team is doing great and they’re still hungry,” said Eastern head coach Jim Hayford. “They are always focused on the next game and what they can do to be better. They genuinely love one another. It’s what makes coaching really fun when you get years like this. It’s just been fun, and there is a lot more to come. It’s a great night to be an Eagle.”

Senior Felix Von Hofe, Eastern’s all-time winningest NCAA Division I player with 80 victories in four seasons, scored 20 points to become the 21st player in school history go over the 1,000-point mark in his career. He had six 3-pointers, giving him 249 in his career to move up two positions to eighth in Big Sky history and just 11 from the school record. His scoring performance was his best since getting 22 in a league-opening win at Idaho.

He, Jacob Wiley and Bogdan Bliznyuk combined for 70 of EWU’s 91 points. Wiley had a double-double with 18 points and 13 rebounds – his 10th double-double of the season – and Bliznyuk had 32 points, eight rebounds and six assists. Wiley and Bliznyuk combined for all of EWU’s points in a 7-0 run to give EWU a comfortable 73-61 lead with 3:56 to play. That was about six minutes after EWU used an 11-0 run to take the lead for good.

Trailing 54-50 in the second half, EWU outscored the Thunderbirds 41-21 the rest of the way. Eastern made all 23 of its free throws in the second half and made 12 3-pointers.

“That’s the closest 16-point road win I’ve ever been a part of,” Hayford said. Our team played really well – we put the ball in Bogdan’s hands down the stretch and he obviously delivered.”